Last year there were rumours of the female judges on the panel not getting along, but Dermot suggested Nicole and Tulisa are having no problems with their working relationship, adding: ‘I miss Kelly [Rowland] obviously, but Nicole’s brilliant, she stepped in and she’s serene, she’s brilliant.

‘The camera loves her, I saw a shot the other day of her and Tulisa sat next to each other – they looked beautiful.’

The X Factor reaches the last round of its audition stages today, before the thousands of hopefuls are whittled down for boot camp.